[Tech ad-ons] Google Duo: Your regular next door ad

Everyone can definitely Google Duo!

The world is dealing with a pandemic and staying at home is now more important than ever. And while many things have come to halt, there are some things that we have simply shifted from offline to online. Whether it is kids taking classes or business heads and lawmakers strategizing, Covid-19 has made us all go online with video conferences becoming the main means. A feature that was pretty much all about casual use or of occasional professional use has now become the go-to option for every individual.

And it is no surprise that more players are coming into the video calling game and existing ones are adding more features to their apps. One such player in the video conferencing business is Google, with its Google Duo app. The app has been around for a while now but now Google has added new features to the app and has also released an ad highlighting the same.

A minute of video calling, featuring cute animals

Just like the world, video calling apps were also not ready for Covid-19 when it came knocking on our doors. Which is the reason why most of these apps only allowed a handful of people to join in on a single video call at the most. Zoom is one of the few apps that allowed as many as a thousand people to interact on a single video call, out of which 49 could appear on the screen at once. While other video calling apps have not been able to accommodate a thousand callers on a single call yet, alternatives are that accommodate multiple callers are coming up. Google Duo is one such alternative. Google has recently added a number of features to the app which includes the ability to doodle on live video call feed, AR filters, the ability to add up to 32 people on a single video call.

“Everyone can Google Duo” is about a minute long ad that features a number of people using the video calling application. It is basically a compilation of smaller clips of people using Google Duo accompanied by a catchy, peppy jingle in the background, with the word “Duo” being used in different contexts and “Google Duo” being added to it – “morning Duo, “late-night Duo,” “encrypted Duo,” “Google Duo”. The ad shows people talking to each other on the app, sharing special moments like birthdays via the app, teaching and learning different things from each other using the app, and doodling and adding effects on their live video feed. The ad features a number of adorable animals — a poodle, a white mouse eating noodles, a baby hedgehog video calling, and a golden retriever staring at a tablet screen. It then moves to show how you can add AR filters to your video chat. It shows that it works on both Android and iPhone and lastly shows how up to 32 people can video call each other on Google Duo.

Simple wins

There are ads that bend your mind, make you search for the meaning and motive behind them, and are truly out of the box. Then there are ads that are well within the box, the ones that serve you motive and meaning on a platter and ask you to consume the product or service straight upfront without beating around the bush. The new Google Duo ad falls in the latter category. “Everyone can Google Duo” is as simple as an ad gets. It highlights the features and USPs of the app and the peppy jingle supports it.

We like how in under a minute, the ad managed to highlight so many features of the app and it did so with some creativity. The video call format, the doodles, and the adorable animals, all went together really well (well, adorable furry beings go well with everything). The ad has not focused on a single feature or USP but has touched all bases, giving you a quick overview of how the app works and all the things it allows you to do. It establishes that Google Duo is more than your regular video calling app and actually allows you to be more creative in the space.

The jingle might not be the most clever or creative one we have ever heard but is definitely catchy and does the job. It adds the much-needed context to the small video clips which otherwise would be just clips of people on the video call. The jingle keeps explaining what is happening on the screen in a very light and funny way. Some might think it gives too much information, too fast in too little time, but we think it works because the features that it highlights are quite easy to understand and we do not think they needed too much time or effort anyway.

Simple Duo, Direct Duo…everyone can get this Google Duo ad

We also admire Google’s approach of advertising the app. When the world is going through a pandemic and brands and many companies cannot stop milking this cow to promote their products and service, Google has taken a pandemic-free approach, and has managed to retain a fun element without straying into the flippant side. It has not used Covid-19 as an anchor to carry this ad, which incidentally would have been understandable, especially considering how the video conferencing market is literally one of the few areas benefiting from Covid-19. This non-dependence on COVID makes the ad more independent which means it can be used even after all this gets sorted and the world is all healed (hopefully soon). It is nice and refreshing to see a new ad from a tech company that does not revolve around Covid-19.

“Everyone can Google Duo” is at its roots, a basic ad that manages to cover all feature most USP bases of Google Duo. It is based on the blueprint of how tried and tested ads are created – it is short, it is simple and it is straightforward. There is nothing complicated. It just serves you all the information right up front with a peppy jingle and does the job an ad is supposed to do. After seeing it, you should be able to understand why “Everyone can Google Duo.”